Which statement correctly describes current in a series circuit?

Which statement correctly describes current in a series circuit?

• A. The current is proportional to the voltage across each component.
• B. The current is the same through all components.
• C. The current is zero after the first component.
• D. The current is inversely related to the resistance of each component.

Answer: (B)

In a series circuit there is only one path for the current, so the same amount of charge flows through every component one after another. That means the current is identical at every point along the loop, even though the voltage drops across components can differ according to each component’s resistance (V = IR). The overall current is set by the source voltage and the total resistance: I = V / R_total. So the statement that the current is the same through all components is the correct description. The other ideas don’t fit: current isn’t determined separately by the voltage across each component, it doesn’t become zero after the first component in a closed loop, and it isn’t inversely related to each component’s resistance since the same current flows through every component regardless of its individual resistance.

In a series circuit there is only one path for the current, so the same amount of charge flows through every component one after another. That means the current is identical at every point along the loop, even though the voltage drops across components can differ according to each component’s resistance (V = IR). The overall current is set by the source voltage and the total resistance: I = V / R_total. So the statement that the current is the same through all components is the correct description. The other ideas don’t fit: current isn’t determined separately by the voltage across each component, it doesn’t become zero after the first component in a closed loop, and it isn’t inversely related to each component’s resistance since the same current flows through every component regardless of its individual resistance.